The smell of fire and oil fills the air. The sound of gears grinding can be heard between
the explosions and shrieks of terror. A man runs out of his house, only to have
his leg grabbed by a metal arm and dragged back through his front door. SCP-001 leaves a trail of metal fragments
and mechanical parts on the ground in the wake of its destruction. Iron chains swing from its form, cast iron
gears whirl within it, a glowing light throbs form the center of its body. SCP-001 is consuming everything in its path. After incorporating the truck chassis into
its being, SCP-001 rolls in a lumbering fashion to the next house. It rips the gutters from the side of the building. Residents who live in the area flee their
neighborhood. All the while hoping that the mechanical monstrosity
skips over their house so they have something to return to if they make it out alive. A section of SCP-001’s undercarriage drops
away from the main body. It rolls down the street consuming more and
more material. The new entity resembles a human spine and
rib cage. It topples over unable to support itself. The rib like formations extend out to grab
anything and everything within reach. The newly incorporated material forms what
can only be described as a head. Light from within the eye sockets fixate on
nearby civilians. The metallic creature picks up the people
and places them inside its exposed, steel, rib cage. Then it turns and spots a woman helplessly
trying to crawl away. The creature reaches out with a spiked tentacle
and wraps it around the woman’s body. She is placed inside of the chest cavity. Moments later a severed hand falls out of
the entity and onto the ground. The mechanical monster continues to gather
bodies and materials, incorporating them into its frame. A growth begins to slowly expand on its back. It becomes so massive that the creature falls
over and uses its limbs to scurry into a nearby house. There is a sickening crunching sound as the
growth bursts. From within emerge three humanoid creatures
resembling the civilians that the entity had consumed earlier. A female with chains extending from her scalp
like dreadlocks stumbles away. The second humanoid is a man with cogs for
limbs. He examines the clock-like components that
have been incorporated into his body, then stares blankly into the distance. The third humanoid lies motionless on the
ground. He did not make it. The two functioning humanoids look at their
creator intently. For a moment nothing moves, then as if they
have been given orders telepathically, the half human half machine humanoids turn and
run away from the mayhem. A few weeks before the massacre caused by
what would be designated as SCP-001, the Foundation had been in contact with the Allied Occult
Initiative. There were rumors of an anomalous object in
Mexico being worshipped by a group of people who identified themselves as The Church of
the Broken God. Intel about the Church claimed their deity
was a small mechanical box filled with cogs and pistons. The box supposedly had supernatural abilities,
it was said to be able to communicate with congregants of The Church of the Broken God
telepathically. The devout worshiped the box, following any
order it gave, and in return they were filled with an emotion that could only be described
as divine. As World War II rages on in Europe, the Foundation
sends agents to recover anomalies in Mexico that might help with the war effort. While there, the Foundation force is tasked
with learning more about The Church of the Broken God. They are also ordered to investigate a town
near La Paz where there are troubling accounts of a mechanical anomalous creatures causing
mayhem. The agents make their way through Mexico gathering
various objects to bring back to Foundation sites in the United States. The unit loads all of the anomalies they’ve
recovered onto a train with the plan to check out the stories of the mechanical anomaly
they’ve heard about as they make their way to the U.S. border. The train heads north along rusted rails. Just outside of La Paz they come across a
broken down train filled with what looks to be refugees. When the Foundation unit goes to investigate
they find all of the refugees repeating the same words over and over again but they don’t
understand. The Foundation agents look at one another
confused, until one of them translates the words into English. The words the refugees are saying over and
over again are “la máquina, la máquina… the machine, the machine,” The commanding officer orders a squad of Foundation
agents to proceed up the tracks, to see if they can figure out what has the refugees
so scared. They make their way towards La Paz, disappearing
over the horizon. As the sun sets the remaining Foundation agents
hear gunshots in the distance. They stay awake all night remaining vigilant,
waiting for the exploratory squad, but morning comes without anyone returning. Three days later, the Foundation force still
has not seen anything since the exploratory squad left. Then as the sun sits lazily in the morning
sky, a lone figure is spotted walking down the tracks towards the trains. One of the agents on watch blows his whistle
and points to the figure. A squad of agents rushes towards the shadow
of a man. Their guns are raised, ready for anything. The figure drops to the ground and begins
to crawl along the tracks. The agents reach the fallen man, only to find
that he is one of their squadmates who had been sent up the tracks to investigate La
Paz several days before. The agent’s name is DeMarco. He is covered in blood. His clothes are in tatters and he has lost
a boot. DeMarco lies on his back with Foundation agents
standing around him, his eyes are wide and wild. He keeps babbling on about a “world eater,”
how the rest of his squad had been mulched, and he is the only one who made it out alive. The Foundation agents carry DeMarco back to
the makeshift base they created by the trains. They need to figure out a way to get the convoy
moving again, but whatever is up ahead has taken out an entire Foundation squad. It had to be something anomalous, but what
could it possibly be? The unit of Foundation agents prepare to move
towards La Paz. They start loading their rifles and check
the amount of ammunition and explosives available in case the containment process gets out of
hand. Just as they are about to leave the base,
a convoy appears on the horizon. It is an Allied Occult Initiative force preparing
to attack whatever it is that is devastating La Paz. This organization’s mission is not to secure,
contain, or protect, but to destroy. The Foundation may be in over their heads
on this one, and the joint force with the Allied Occult Initiative may be the only way
to stop what is now known as SCP-001. The AOI and Foundation force gears up for
battle. They set out for La Paz, and what they find
causes them to quake with fear. SCP-001 has consumed so much material it is
the size of a mountain. It moves like a tidal wave of mechanical destruction,
washing over the buildings and landscape under it. Whatever SCP-001 passes over is consumed and
added to its massive body. SCP-001 started as a small mechanical box
with cogs, but now has morphed into a gigantic metal death machine. The Church of the Broken God has finally met
their maker, as the small entity they once worshiped has now consumed all of its members. Their god is an all consuming monster. The AOI and Foundation forces do everything
they can to stop SCP-001 from continuing its reign of destruction. They fire barrage after barrage of bullets
and explosives into the mechanical anomaly. They bring in air support to try and damage
it from the skies, but nothing works. The AOI uses an artifact in their possession
to lure SCP-001 to the coast of the Pacific Ocean where a trap has been set for the so-called
god. The monstrous mechanical creature moves slowly
towards the water. It consumes abandoned cars, buildings, and
boats as it approaches the coastline. It even shovels large amounts of the earth
into its form, causing flames to spurt out from its inner workings. Smoke bellows from openings between different
mechanical components, like a volcano before it is about to erupt. Suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, a massive
cloud with a reddish tint appears in the sky. Air raid sirens can be heard in the distance. The enormous cloud begins to pulsate. Streaks of lightning shoot through the red
mist in the sky. It now sits directly over SCP-001. From within the cloud part of a ship can be
seen. It appears to be slightly damaged, electricity
flows over its hull. The vessel in the giant red cloud is classified
as SCP-2399. The underside of the vessel begins to glow
aqua blue. A blinding beam of light is ejected from SCP-2399,
which penetrates straight down and through SCP-001. For a moment everything is still. There is complete silence. Then as if SCP-001 is trying to reach up and
grab the vessel above it, a mechanical bulge reaches out. Before SCP-001 can grab the vessel above,
there is another bright flash of light. SCP-2399 blinks out of existence. The sound of grinding gears can be heard coming
from within SCP-001. It begins to shed its outer layers of metal. Then the entire structure that was SCP-001
collapses into the water and onto the beach. Giant cogs fall from the sky. Parts of vehicles embed themselves in the
sand. As the Foundation and AOI agents approach
the piles of scrap metal and mechanical components they see that some of them are still moving. It is as if an invisible powersource is still
pulsating through some of the machinery. The agents of the Foundation celebrate the
destruction of the giant mechanical beast, but little do they know this was only a piece
of the entity worshipped as the Broken God. The Foundation agents collect as many of the
still moving parts as they can. They find spinning gears, twitching pulleys,
and firing pistons. As the parts are separated from one another
and carried away from the main wreckage of SCP-001, they slowly stop moving and become
inactive. Some of the artifacts recovered were identified
as being connected to the Church of the Broken God. These artifacts are found closer to the middle
of what was once a mountain sized SCP-001. Hundreds of anomalous artifacts are collected
and transported to SCP Foundation sites. Collecting the broken parts of SCP-001 is
relatively safe. However, some agents get too close to the
larger moving parts, getting caught in them and losing a body part or two. But most agents proceed with caution and survive
the collection ordeal with their arms and legs still attached to their bodies. Dive teams are sent into the water to recover
parts that have sunk to the bottom of the sea. One of the divers is a local from the area. He is hired to bring up the heart of the machine,
since he is an experienced diver used to free diving to great depths to collect oysters
from the bottom of the bay. The diver enters the water and swims down
into the murky depths. He secures straps around the heart of SCP-001
and pulls hard on the rope, as an indication to the surface that it is ready to be hauled
up. The salvage team on the surface begins to
pull. There is a second slight tug on the rope,
then it goes slack. The team continues to pull. When they get the heart to the surface they
are horrified at what else comes up with it. Tangled in the ropes is the lifeless body
of the diver. His head is smashed between two moving pieces
of the heart. It looks as if he shoved his head between
the slabs of metal himself. The salvage team untangles the body, rolls
it off the deck, and back into the ocean. The mechanical box which was the heart of
SCP-001 is offloaded onto the shore, but as the Foundation prepares to move it to a containment
facility, the weather starts to deteriorate. Hurricane force winds sweep across the water
and batter the coast. The heart is kept in a secured storage warehouse
until it can be moved. The people living in the village nearby complain
of hearing voices and rashes so itchy that they practically tear their skin off. Once the storm passes, the Foundation agents
load the heart onto a ship. It is to be transported to a Foundation site
just across the border. The ocean seems calm and serene. The Foundation ship undocks and begins its
journey up the coast. Not too long after beginning its journey the
ship slowly drifts off course. It is as if the crew has stopped manning their
posts, and the ship is being controlled by a mind of its own. The Foundation ship crashes and sinks somewhere
in the Pacific Ocean, never to be found, and more importantly, the heart of SCP-001 doesn’t
make it to the Foundation site. Years later a man is walking along the beach. He hears something. It sounds like someone pounding on a large
drum to the rhythm of a heartbeat. The man walks towards the sound. Something is drawing him forward, closer and
closer to the heartbeat. He walks and walks until the beating stops. He bends down and moves the sand aside. He spots the corner of a mechanical box sticking
out of the white sand. The man digs deeper and pulls out the small
box. Inside he can see gears whirling and pistons
firing. He holds the box close to his own heart. It seems to speak to him. The man brings the box back to town. He starts to worship the box and soon more
and more people in the area join the new religion. They cast aside their old beliefs and focus
on the powerful entity contained within the box. God is not dead… at least not yet, but the
prophecies of The Church of the Broken God say that when the heart is found, the God
will reassemble itself once again. Then the Unbroken God will destroy all other
false deities, until only he remains. Now go watch another SCP-001 Proposal - the
Children, or SCP-2935 - O, Death for more stories from the SCP Foundation that you have
to see to believe.
